Wiley Rein counsel Robert Walker, former chief counsel for the Ethics committees in both the House and Senate, said referring matters from the Jan. 6 select committee to the Ethics Committee would “test the dynamics” of a panel that typically operates by consensus.
Most issues surrounding the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol have broken down along partisan lines, he said. “For good or ill, I think it would be putting the Ethics Committee in a difficult position to refer these matters to the committee,” Walker said.
Kedric Payne, general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center and former deputy chief counsel for the Office of Congressional Ethics, emphasized the Ethics Committee’s bipartisan approach and the unprecedented situation presented by the attack.
“There is a chance there is a serious review of these allegations,” Payne said. “Nothing is really comparable to the Jan. 6 attack, and in the recent history of the committee it is rare for one committee to refer ethics violations of a member to another committee.”
Ribble said any ethics referrals could become radioactive in the Republican-controlled House, and any ethics referrals would be rejected in part to discount the Jan. 6 committee’s work.
